This Saturday: Two authors and an Alabama singer! Tune in for tales of wilderness survival and joy with Peter Heller (The River), Erin McGraw (Joy: And 52 Other Very Short Stories), and singer-songwriter Anna Grace Beatty.

• The time: Saturday, March 16, 7 p.m.
• Your hosts: Jim Dees and house band the Yalobushwhackers

Click here for more information about Thacker Mountain Radio Hour—celebrating the music and stories of the emerging South.

Featuring

Peter Heller

Peter Heller is the author of the novel The River (Knopf), a masterful tale of wilderness survival in the vein of Into the Wild and The Call of the Wild. It is the story of two college friends on a wilderness canoe trip—a gripping tale of a friendship tested by fire, white water, and violence.

Heller’s previous books include Celine, The Painter, and The Dog Stars. The Painter was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and won the prestigious Reading the West Book Award. The Dog Stars was a national bestseller and has been published in 22 languages.

Heller is also the author of four nonfiction books, including Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave, which won the National Outdoor Book Award for Literature.

Heller holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in poetry and fiction and lives in Denver, Colorado.

Erin McGraw

Erin McGraw is the author of the story collection Joy and 52 Other Very Short Stories (Counterpoint). In these very short stories, narrators step out of themselves to explain their lives to us. Voices include those of the impulsive first-time murderer, the depressed pet sitter, the assistant of Patsy Cline, the anxiety-riddled new mother, the aged rock-and-roller, and the girlfriend of your husband.

Crossing time, states, class, and religions, McGraw’s stories are on the edge, causing you to wince even as you laugh.

Erin McGraw, born and raised in Southern California, now lives in rural Tennessee with her husband, poet Andrew Hudgins, and her dogs. She has written six previous books—three novels and three collections of stories—along with essays and occasional journalism.

Anna Grace Beatty

Anna Grace Beatty is a singer-songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama. Her debut release is the 5-song EP Burns You Up. She is currently working on a follow-up release. Beatty is on a tour of the Southeast that will take her to Memphis, Chattanooga, Tuscaloosa, and Baton Rouge, as well as a March 25 date at the Blue Canoe in Tupelo.